Lawmakers Fight Over Higher Education Financing
After much legislative hand-wringing last week over the low graduation rates of Texas colleges and universities — and how tweaking state financing formulas might crack the whip on schools to improve — state Rep. Mike Villarreal, D-San Antonio, could stomach the discussion no longer.
“This is a useless conversation,” Villarreal said at the joint session of the House Higher Education Committee and the Appropriations Subcommittee on Education.
The conversation centered on a recent proposal from Higher Education Commissioner Raymund Paredes to change the way the state funds public universities — by paying them only when students complete a class rather than when they ...
Comments (9)
Richard Moore
The current formula system assumes that there is a “model” student and a “model” university. In reality, there is a lot of variability across Texas among higher education students in terms of socio-economics and intellectual preparation for college. Universities themselves have dramatic differences in terms of culture, academic infrastructure and perception.
A single formula will simply not work across all the Institutions. Consideration should be given to broad categorization of the institutions – community colleges should separately be categorized as well. Each categorized group (possibly 3 to 4) could then realistically expect to appeal to a fairly homogenous set of students and the institutions in the group should have quite similar needs and aspirations. Incentives could then be developed to facilitate the movement (gradually) of an Institution from one category to another as well as to drive state-wide priorities.
Patrick Fortner via Texas Tribune on Facebook
How about accepting the fact that not everyone who starts college should?
Richard Stone via Texas Tribune on Facebook
... or that even two semesters of college is better than no semesters of college ...
William Pate via Texas Tribune on Facebook
I gotta go with Hochberg here. That's where real change can happen and be spurred, with far-ranging positive consequences.
think
It should be based on performance and outcomes. The better the student outcomes the more money the school gets. It should have a better impact on administration, dept deans and chairs who see students as the weeds that need to be pulled out instead of paying customers who expect education in return.
There would be less turnover, less high failure rate classes (that are cash cows for universities) and administrative indifference, If some classes have low success rates or high failure rates the school still gets paid. The Gov., lobbiests for universities, GOP controlled legislature, Crony Regents, some Deans, Chairs and administration are not concerned with performance they only care about money. The more students repeat the more money the university gets. The university doesn't care whether they should improve how it's taught to have better content, and successful education, better grades.
Where did the money collected and appropriated for education go? Just to pay administration and to heck with graduation or completion?
More people like Villareal are needed. He is right on target.
Paying on outcomes means better teaching methods, better educators, better education.
Paigers Rangel via Texas Tribune on Facebook
oh go to hell
Mary Lynn VanZandt Neill via Texas Tribune on Facebook
How long did it take him to reach this conclusion?Too frickin' long.
Jacquelyn Boyet via Texas Tribune on Facebook
When did we come to the conclusion that all kids should go to a four-year college? Many of the people I went to high school with went into technical fields, and make far more money than I ever will.
Jacquelyn Boyet via Texas Tribune on Facebook
When did we come to the conclusion that all kids should go to a four-year college? Many of the people I went to high school with went into technical fields, and make far more money than I ever will.